Don’t Mess With Texas’ Clean Energy

When you think of Texas, what comes to mind? The Alamo? Longhorn cattle? The Dallas Cowboys?

Add clean energy to that list.

“Some might not think of Texas as a hotspot for renewables. But if you look at what cities here are doing, you might have to change your mind,” says Jen Powis, who leads the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal state-wide campaign in the Lone Star State.

Powis points out that politicians who oppose clean energy here will also find themselves standing in the way of jobs. The wind energy sector supports more than 8,000 jobs in Texas, according to the American Wind Energy Association(PDF). The state is home to dozens of clean-energy manufacturers, and annual tax revenues from wind projects are in the nine figures.

That being said, the Texas Public Utility Commission has stubbornly blocked solar companies from establishing themselves in this sun-rich region.

“It’s embarrassing to me as a Texan that New Jersey has more solar watts installed than we do,” Polis says. “The PUC and the state legislature have stood in the way of bringing in these good, green jobs. But that can’t go on much longer. Texas is great for solar. In five years, I bet 5,000 megawatts of coal will be replaced by clean energy here.”

You can help make sure clean energy gets the support it needs. Tell Congress to pass strong clean energy financing incentives – including the Production Tax Credit for onshore wind, the “1603” grants that have created jobs in the solar sector, access to the Investment Tax Credit for offshore wind projects, and credits for efficient manufacturing, homes, and appliances